Page 476

Chapter 52

The Divine Shepherd

“I am the Good Shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the
sheep.” “I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am
known of Mine. As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father:
and I lay down My life for the sheep.”
Again Jesus found access to the minds of His hearers by the pathway
of their familiar associations. He had likened the Spirit’s influence to
the cool, refreshing water. He had represented Himself as the light, the
source of life and gladness to nature and to man. Now in a beautiful
pastoral picture He represents His relation to those that believe on Him.
No picture was more familiar to His hearers than this, and Christ’s words
linked it forever with Himself. Never could the disciples look on the
shepherds tending their flocks without recalling the Saviour’s lesson.
They would see Christ in each faithful shepherd. They would see themselves
in each helpless and dependent flock.
This figure the prophet Isaiah had applied to the Messiah’s mission,
in the comforting words, “O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee
up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift
up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities
of Judah, Behold your God! . . . He shall feed His flock like a
shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in
His bosom.” Isa. 40:9-11. David had sung, “The Lord is my shepherd;

Page 477

I shall not want.” Ps. 23:1. And the Holy Spirit through Ezekiel had
declared: “I will set up one Shepherd over them, and He shall feed
them.” “I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which
was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will
strengthen that which was sick.” “And I will make with them a covenant
of peace.” “And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen; . . . but
they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid.” Ezek. 34:23, 16, 25, 28.
Christ applied these prophecies to Himself, and He showed the
contrast between His own character and that of the leaders in Israel.
The Pharisees had just driven one from the fold, because he dared to
bear witness to the power of Christ. They had cut off a soul whom
the True Shepherd was drawing to Himself. In this they had shown
themselves ignorant of the work committed to them, and unworthy of
their trust as shepherds of the flock. Jesus now set before them the
contrast between them and the Good Shepherd, and He pointed to
Himself as the real keeper of the Lord’s flock. Before doing this,
however, He speaks of Himself under another figure.
He said, “He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but
climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he
that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.” The Pharisees
did not discern that these words were spoken against them. When they
reasoned in their hearts as to the meaning, Jesus told them plainly, “I
am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go
in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal,
and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and
that they might have it more abundantly.”
Christ is the door to the fold of God. Through this door all His
children, from the earliest times, have found entrance. In Jesus, as
shown in types, as shadowed in symbols, as manifested in the revelation
of the prophets, as unveiled in the lessons given to His disciples, and in
the miracles wrought for the sons of men, they have beheld “the Lamb
of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), and
through Him they are brought within the fold of His grace. Many
have come presenting other objects for the faith of the world; ceremonies
and systems have been devised by which men hope to receive justification
and peace with God, and thus find entrance to His fold. But the only
door is Christ, and all who have interposed something to take the place

Page 478

of Christ, all who have tried to enter the fold in some other way, are
thieves and robbers.
The Pharisees had not entered by the door. They had climbed into
the fold by another way than Christ, and they were not fulfilling the
work of the true shepherd. The priests and rulers, the scribes and
Pharisees, destroyed the living pastures, and defiled the wellsprings of
the water of life. Faithfully do the words of inspiration describe those
false shepherds: “The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye
healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was
broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away;
. . . but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.” Ezek. 34:4.
In all ages, philosophers and teachers have been presenting to the
world theories by which to satisfy the soul’s need. Every heathen nation
has had its great teachers and religious systems offering some other
means of redemption than Christ, turning the eyes of men away from
the Father’s face, and filling their hearts with fear of Him who has
given them only blessing. The trend of their work is to rob God of
that which is His own, both by creation and by redemption. And these
false teachers rob man as well. Millions of human beings are bound
down under false religions, in the bondage of slavish fear, of stolid
indifference, toiling like beasts of burden, bereft of hope or joy or
aspiration here, and with only a dull fear of the hereafter. It is the
gospel of the grace of God alone that can uplift the soul. The contemplation
of the love of God manifested in His Son will stir the heart and
arouse the powers of the soul as nothing else can. Christ came that He
might re-create the image of God in man; and whoever turns men away
from Christ is turning them away from the source of true development;
he is defrauding them of the hope and purpose and glory of life. He
is a thief and a robber.
“He that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.” Christ
is both the door and the shepherd. He enters in by Himself. It is through
His own sacrifice that He becomes the shepherd of the sheep. “To Him
the porter openeth; and the sheep hear His voice: and He calleth His
own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when He putteth forth
His own sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him: for
they know His voice.”
Of all creatures the sheep is one of the most timid and helpless, and
in the East the shepherd’s care for his flock is untiring and incessant.

Page 479

Anciently as now there was little security outside of the walled towns.
Marauders from the roving border tribes, or beasts of prey from their
hiding places in the rocks, lay in wait to plunder the flocks. The
shepherd watched his charge, knowing that it was at the peril of his own
life. Jacob, who kept the flocks of Laban in the pasture grounds of
Haran, describing his own unwearied labor, said, “In the day the drought
consumed me, and the
frost by night; and my
sleep departed from mine
eyes.” Gen. 31:40. And
it was while guarding
his father’s sheep that
the boy David, single-handed,
encountered the
lion and the bear, and
rescued from their teeth
the stolen lamb.
As the shepherd leads
his flock over the rocky
hills, through forest and
wild ravines, to grassy
nooks by the riverside;
as he watches them on
the mountains through the lonely night, shielding from robbers, caring
tenderly for the sickly and feeble, his life comes to be one with theirs. A
strong and tender attachment unites him to the objects of his care. However
large the flock, the shepherd knows every sheep. Every one has its
name, and responds to the name at the shepherd’s call.
As an earthly shepherd knows his sheep, so does the divine Shepherd
know His flock that are scattered throughout the world. “Ye My flock,
the flock of My pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord
God.” Jesus says, “I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine.” “I
have graven thee upon the palms of My hands.” Ezek. 34:31; Isa. 43:1;
49:16.
Jesus knows us individually, and is touched with the feeling of our
infirmities. He knows us all by name. He knows the very house in
which we live, the name of each occupant. He has at times given
directions to His servants to go to a certain street in a certain city, to
such a house, to find one of His sheep.

Page 480

Every soul is as fully known to Jesus as if he were the only one for
whom the Saviour died. The distress of every one touches His heart.
The cry for aid reaches His ear. He came to draw all men unto Himself.
He bids them, “Follow Me,” and His Spirit moves upon their hearts
to draw them to come to Him. Many refuse to be drawn. Jesus knows
who they are. He also knows who gladly hear His call, and are ready
to come under His pastoral care. He says, “My sheep hear My voice,
and I know them, and they follow Me.” He cares for each one as if there
were not another on the face of the earth.
“He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. . . .
And the sheep follow Him: for they know His voice.” The Eastern
shepherd does not drive his sheep. He depends not upon force or fear;
but going before, he calls them. They know his voice, and obey the
call. So does the Saviour-Shepherd with His sheep. The Scripture says,
“Thou leddest Thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.”
Through the prophet, Jesus declares, “I have loved thee with an everlasting
love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.” He compels
none to follow Him. “I drew them,” He says, “with cords of a man,
with bands of love.” Ps. 77:20; Jer. 31:3; Hosea 11:4.
It is not the fear of punishment, or the hope of everlasting reward,
that leads the disciples of Christ to follow Him. They behold the
Saviour’s matchless love, revealed throughout His pilgrimage on earth,
from the manger of Bethlehem to Calvary’s cross, and the sight of Him
attracts, it softens and subdues the soul. Love awakens in the heart of
the beholders. They hear His voice, and they follow Him.
As the shepherd goes before his sheep, himself first encountering the
perils of the way, so does Jesus with His people. “When He putteth
forth His own sheep, He goeth before them.” The way to heaven is
consecrated by the Saviour’s footprints. The path may be steep and
rugged, but Jesus has traveled that way; His feet have pressed down
the cruel thorns, to make the pathway easier for us. Every burden that
we are called to bear He Himself has borne.
Though now He has ascended to the presence of God, and shares
the throne of the universe, Jesus has lost none of His compassionate
nature. Today the same tender, sympathizing heart is open to all the
woes of humanity. Today the hand that was pierced is reached forth
to bless more abundantly His people that are in the world. “And they
shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.”

Page 483

The soul that has given himself to Christ is more precious in His sight
than the whole world. The Saviour would have passed through the
agony of Calvary that one might be saved in His kingdom. He will
never abandon one for whom He has died. Unless His followers choose
to leave Him, He will hold them fast.
Through all our trials we have a never-failing Helper. He does not
leave us alone to struggle with temptation, to battle with evil, and be
finally crushed with burdens and sorrow. Though now He is hidden
from mortal sight, the ear of faith can hear His voice saying, Fear not;
I am with you. “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am
alive forevermore.” Rev. 1:18. I have endured your sorrows, experienced
your struggles, encountered your temptations. I know your tears;
I also have wept. The griefs that lie too deep to be breathed into any
human ear, I know. Think not that you are desolate and forsaken.
Though your pain touch no responsive chord in any heart on earth, look
unto Me, and live. “The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed;
but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the
covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on
thee.” Isa. 54:10.
However much a shepherd may love his sheep, he loves his sons
and daughters more. Jesus is not only our shepherd; He is our “everlasting
Father.” And He says, “I know Mine own, and Mine own
know Me, even as the Father knoweth Me, and I know the Father.”
John 10:14, 15, R. V. What a statement is this!—the only-begotten
Son, He who is in the bosom of the Father, He whom God has
declared to be “the Man that is My fellow” (Zech. 13:7),—the communion
between Him and the eternal God is taken to represent the
communion between Christ and His children on the earth!
Because we are the gift of His Father, and the reward of His work,
Jesus loves us. He loves us as His children. Reader, He loves you.
Heaven itself can bestow nothing greater, nothing better. Therefore trust.
Jesus thought upon the souls all over the earth who were misled by
false shepherds. Those whom He longed to gather as the sheep of His
pasture were scattered among wolves, and He said, “Other sheep I have,
which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear
My voice; and they shall become one flock, one shepherd.” John 10:16, R. V.
“Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life,
that I might take it again.” That is, My Father has so loved you, that

Page 484

He even loves Me more for giving My life to redeem you. In becoming
your substitute and surety, by surrendering My life, by taking your
liabilities, your transgressions, I am endeared to My Father.
“I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it
from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it again.” While as a member of the human
family He was mortal, as God He was the fountain of life for the world.
He could have withstood the advances of death, and refused to come
under its dominion; but voluntarily He laid down His life, that He
might bring life and immortality to light. He bore the sin of the world,
endured its curse, yielded up His life as a sacrifice, that men might not
eternally die. “Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.
. . . He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our
iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with
His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have
turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the
iniquity of us all.” Isa. 53:4-6.